Hoofing it: Wandering the Windy City (and by Boat)

I had a great time in Chicago, it was a really great city to walk around and enjoy. The city is just enormous and has some of the tallest building in North America. It also well was/is home to some storied companies such as Sears, Montgomery Ward, F.W. Woolworth’s, Prudential, Wrigley and the local Tribune newspaper.

During our visit I had a chance to take the amazing Architectural river boat cruise and see many of these amazing buildings for a really great vantage point. The tour was really really great. It truly brought the city to life and allowed me to see the city on a way that I had not expected to see it in. The tour guide did a great job of describing the buildings and explaining why they were designed the way they were and talked a ton about the history of the city and its growth. Besides that he added a good bit of humor to keep the tour light and interesting too. I know that if I had not been on this three hour tour (really just 1 ½), I would not have come away from Chicago with as much knowledge as I did about the history of it.

My golden ticket for the Architectural Boat Tour

Trump Tower,second largest building in Chicago.

Sear’s errr Willis Tower. #1 in Chicago

The tower dominates the skyline from almost every angle.

Prudential Building, I still remember this building from the movie “Adventures in Babysitting”

Lake Point Tower

Oh Trump…Designed by the same person who designed The Burj Khalifa in Dubai (the world’s largest building)

Tribune Building

Tower One Marina City

F.W. Woolworths warehouse, now The Merchandise Mart. This was the largest building when built in the 30’s.

Besides taking a tour, we did a lot of hoofing throughout the city, and had a chance to visit Millennium Park, opened in 2004. This new park is just cool. There are two main iconic features that many people have probably seen before “Cloud Gate” also known as the bean and the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, designed by Frank Gehry who also designed the Disney Art Center in LA. These two amazing places we just great to see in person and to have a beautiful and new park in such a vibrant city was truly surprising. I love Central Park and Golden Gate Park too, but this one is just different an interactive park right on the lake and in the heart of the city.